ISRAEL TODAY - COMMENTARY: Jewish Envy | Todd Morehead

COMMENTARY: Jewish Envy

Thursday, December 17, 2015 |  Todd Morehead  ISRAEL TODAY


What did the Apostle Paul mean when he said, “salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious?” Is it true that one of the reasons Gentiles are saved is to make Jews jealous? Really?

If this is true, and I believe it is, then the Church has yet to fulfill this mission in any real way. In fact, we, the Gentile believers in Jesus, have done more to provoke the Jews to anger than to envy. Maybe you and I didn’t do it directly, but throughout Church history Gentile “Christians” have been responsible for some of the most horrific acts against the Jewish people i.e. The Spanish Inquisitions, the Crusades, the Pogroms in Europe, and eventually the Holocaust. 

If this is true, then how did we get so far off the mark? I believe the single greatest reason is the emergence of Replacement Theology that has rooted itself deep within the Church for the last 2,000 years. Simply stated, Replacement Theology teaches that there are no future promises left to the Jewish people, no land to call their own, and no future national regeneration. This theology teaches that the Church has in fact replaced Israel as the people of God.

Let’s just follow the logic of such a doctrine. If God has replaced Israel with the Church, then He has in fact turned his back on them. If God no longer has a special heart for the people He once called “the apple of his eye” then why should we? If God doesn’t love them, then why should his followers?

This is the logic of what I believe to be the most dangerous theology in the history of the Church. If God can turn His back on Israel, whom he made certain eternal and unconditional promises to, then who’s to say he won’t turn his back on you and I?  

A straightforward reading of scripture ensures us that He indeed has not turned his back on the Jewish people. In Jeremiah 31:35-36 He says emphatically that the only way He will ever turn His back on Israel is if the sun, moon and the stars--light sources that He Himself decreed--cease to give their light. In other words, He will never turn His back on the Jewish people.

Yes, God has a wonderful plan for the Jewish people! One of complete restoration, and we, the Gentile followers of Jesus, play an intricate role. Since Israel as a nation (not including the believing remnant) rejected the Messiahship of Jesus, He in turn offered salvation to the Gentiles. One of the reasons for this was to make the Jews jealous (Rom.11:11-15). 

I believe God’s idea was for the Gentiles to have such a special relationship with the Jewish people that we actually arouse them to jealousy because of our possession of their Messiah. We are to be an example of God’s love to them, we are to respect them, and have gratitude towards them. In this way they would become so jealous of us that they in turn come to faith in Jesus as their Messiah.

Could you imagine how different the history of the Jews and the Church might have been if the body of Christ put this teaching into practice? Church Fathers Origen, Justin Martyr and Augustine would have taught Christians to have love toward the Jews, rather than hate. John Chrysostom would never have written his “Eight Homilies Against the Jews.”There would be no such events as the Crusades or the Spanish Inquisitions. Martin Luther would have never written his book _On the Jews and Their Lies _and, in turn, Hitler and his Nazi regime might not have had the support from the German people to succeed in murdering six million Jews. 

This generation of Christians can change the course the Church has taken. We need to start with making the Jews in our life jealous of our relationship with the God of Israel through Jesus. This jealousy needs to start and end with love for the Jewish people, and an attitude of gratitude towards them. 

I challenge you to ask God how He might accomplish His mission to the Jewish people through you. If you don’t have any Jewish friends then start by praying that God would bring some into your life. Let’s change the course of Church history and fulfill our mission to the Jewish people.

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Christian Surfers in the 'Promised Land' | Ryan Jones ISRAEL TODAY

Christian Surfers in the 'Promised Land'

Tuesday, November 24, 2015 |  Ryan Jones  ISRAEL TODAY

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The following article first appeared in the October 2015 issue of Israel Today Magazine.

Todd Morehead had always dreamt of one thing—becoming a professional surfer. Growing up in California, he could think of nothing else. But there was a competing focus that eventually won out—a desire to travel in service to the Kingdom of God.

Fortunately, Morehead came to realize his two passions could be combined. “I found myself working for different Christian organizations, not only doing ministry, but also surfing,” he says in the opening to his documentary filmPromised Land.

Eventually, those travels brought him to Israel.

“I’ve been able to go all around the world, but Israel keeps coming to the forefront of my mind,” explains Morehead. “My heart is that all Christians would find a really deep-seated love for the Jews, and that they would discover how Jewish our faith is.”

Amid refurbishing bomb shelters in the Galilee with Shelters of Hope and befriending local surfers, Morehead realized other Christians needed to know the struggles of Israelis who want to live in peace but are forced to face constant conflict, and why this should speak to anyone who believes in the Bible.

“As Christians, God calls us to love the Jews,” he asserts. “I feel a debt of gratitude toward the Jewish people.”

Besides his hands-on, practical ministry work, Morehead began to lead groups of other Christian surfers to visit the Holy Land and catch some Israeli waves.

Promised Land is the continuation of that work. In the stunning, hour-long documentary, Morehead highlights his friendship with the Israeli surfer community, its history, the challenges faced by all living in the Jewish state, and how, in whatever small ways possible, a handful of Christian surfers are working with their Israeli counterparts for peace. He also intersperses biblical and historical teachings.

Two people along to help Morehead were world-renowned surfing champion Tom Curren and California-based Messianic rabbi Barney Kasdan.

“As Christians, [Israel] is a very important place for us,” says Curren. “It was really moving to see Jerusalem for the first time. To think that so much hinges on what happens to Jerusalem; it’s such an important place.”

While Curren was moved by his first Holy Land experience, those in Israel familiar with surfing were moved by the presence of such a legend.

“Almost everywhere we went, word got out somehow that Tom Curren is in the Land,” recounts Kasdan, adding jokingly, “I’d almost say it was like Elijah coming ahead of the Messiah.”

The film concludes with Morehead’s Israeli surfer friend Hani stating, “I believe that God gave the Jewish people this land. It’s there, it’s in the Bible.”

Nevertheless, Morehead has found that in the charged atmosphere of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, many Christians no longer believe that. He told Israel Today that his next project is a documentary “exploring my continued journey in Israel, seeking truth specifically behind the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with the goal of giving a proper Christian response.”

After already producing Promised Land which has had a positive impact on young people prone to adopting the “Palestinian cause,” we wondered why an additional documentary was necessary. Morehead pointed out that the new anti-Semitism disguised as social justice requires a direct response.

“Christians are being told from both secular and Christian media that if they believe in justice then they need to stand with the underdog, who are always portrayed as the Palestinians,” he said. “But we believe that if people really care about justice, then they need to look at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a broader lens, a lens that considers the destructive influence of radical Islam within Palestinian society and the Middle East.”

And, of course, for Christians there is the fact that all of this is part of “God fulfilling His covenant promises to the people of Israel,” which includes “a redemptive plan and a deep love for the Arabs living in the region.”

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Check out Promised Land at promisedlandthemovie.com
To contact Todd Morehead about this and his upcoming project:promisedland@walkingonwater.com

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